A  note to the Chairperson Zila Parishad, Lahaul Spiti, Himachal Pradesh: what can be done differently and more inclusively 
anil gupta and navdeep mathur

All Shodhyatris including students and faculty from IIM Ahmedabad were overwhelmed with the hospitality of the local communities we met during our walk from Jahlma to Udaipur. We’re also grateful to Dr. Arun Chandan and his team particularly Anita Nalwaji and Dr Ravinder Kaundal for the excellent arrangements made during the learning journey. Our meetings with the women’s self-help groups (Mahila Mandals) and school teachers were very insightful. The suggestions below are guided by the developmental concerns of the local communities and the region, while acknowledging the tremendous work going on in the face of many challenges:

1. Education
   a. Lack of science teachers: The children in schools, both primary and secondary, were being paid very good attention by the teachers. They seemed to know their mind and offered many creative and innovative ideas. However, we were disappointed to see that many poor children especially in government senior secondary schools at Udaipur could not pursue science because of a lack of science teachers. We appeal to the administration to correct the current anomaly. The wealthier parents of children can afford to educate their children in Kullu and Manali where better facilities exist. However, poor children are forced to study arts or commerce because of the lack of science teachers. We will also write to the education secretary of the state government to correct this anomaly.
   b. Most schools had a little space available for growing medicinal plants and most teachers seemed keen to do so. It may be useful to provide medicinal plant seedlings and seeds to every school to build a kind of knowledge garden.
   c. Children can be persuaded to talk to their grandparents, uncles, aunts, and other elderly community members and learn about the different uses of the locally found medicinal plants, trees, shrubs, etc., and record them in the school knowledge bank. Posters can be made of this knowledge after being corroborated through scientific annotations to enrich the knowledge of the younger generation about the biodiversity wealth of the region.
   d. Similar knowledge gardens can be set up in every village. In most villages, mahila mandals (women self-help groups) had shown us the patches where spontaneously a lot of plants have grown. We can put placards having the local name, scientific name, scientifically validated uses, and community uses on these plots/ knowledge gardens in schools and villages. We realise that many community members did not know the diverse uses of many of these indigenous plants just as for some plants they had rich knowledge. Conservation, characterization, and regulated commercialisation may be the way forward for sustainable socio-economic development.
   e. The posters communicating the ecological importance of certain local sites and species may also be showcased on the walls of each school so the children become conscious of the need to conserve trees, habitats and other sites which may be vulnerable due to climatic fluctuations and may need special attention for conservations.
2. Women’s Empowerment
   a. We saw that the walls of mahila mandal rooms did not have posters of local crafts, abundant biodiversity, or abundant bioresources and their uses, etc. It would be great if there were posters of these things. IT will be useful if every few months these posters are changed as a part of continuing community learning in exchange with other communities/schools so that each mandal knows about its endowments but also that of others.
   b. in situ value addition: The exhibition organised by Anitaji and the medicinal plant board office at Udaipur was very educational but there were very few value-added products. There is a need for organising capacity-building programs for in-situ value addition. For instance, tea of sea buckthorn leaves, dried and wet fruits, and numerous other products can be very popular. Similarly, an aromatic pouch containing leaves of Dhoop, Juniper, Artemisia and a few other flowers will be loved by urban people, tourists, and others and can have a countrywide market as natural wardrobe/cloth fresheners and bookshelf fresheners. Taxi drivers can be encouraged to hang such fresheners in their cars so the passengers/ tourists would ask about it and in the process market and demand would be created.
   c. The Womens groups face a problem in marketing their products and having a common outlet and own Brand in every small city for such products is an urgent requirement. The dried vegetables along with the recipe notes, soups and a variety of kidney beans/rajma are likely to fetch much higher prices for the communities. Creating such outlets for these groups will augment their income.
   d. Women work very hard and carry huge loads of fodder and firewood on their backs. Each village panchayat should ensure there are resting points for such head-load carriers at regular intervals to make their life easier. In the Gondal kingdom, during the late 19th century, the then-king had made resting points for head load carriers. We may follow in those footsteps.
   e. The horizontal trade among the mahila mandals/women groups is almost absent. The groups should be encouraged to buy from each other.
3. Sustainable Tourism
   a. The Zila parishad should pass a resolution requiring every tour operator. and taxi driver to collect all the waste thrown by the tourists and deposit it back to waste collection sites in Kullu and Manali. Tourists must be encouraged to carry their waste with them and dispose it properly. Unless a zero waste policy is strongly enforced the cleanliness of the mountain cannot be assured.
   b. At sites like the Triloknath temple, the sanitation standards were found to be quite poor. There was a lack of billboards or posters advising visitors to maintain the sanctity of the place by keeping it clean. It did not seem that common resting places were being cleaned every day regularly. Tourists were not discouraged from using plastic bags for offering prasad. In fact, the usage of recycled paper bowls should be encouraged for carrying prasad in the sanctum sanctorum thereby eliminating the use of plastic completely. Such sites should also be used to create awareness about the rich biodiversity of the place and the need to conserve it. Ideas should be invited from tourists to accelerate local development.
   c. Many of the tourists may be accomplished scientists, teachers, policymakers, entrepreneurs, etc., and a suitable a system can be developed to enquire about those who are knowledgeable and may like to contribute to the education and economic development of the area. Their presence can be utilised for community betterment depending on their plans and willingness for mutual learning and sharing. Sustainable tourism depends on sustainable engagement.
   d. There are a lot of ancient artefacts like stones with carvings lying on the roadside. Suitable museums can be created at the community level and in the cities to conserve the heritage and help tourists learn about not only the rich history but also the rich culture that has evolved in the process.
   e. Eco-designed placards can be put on different trees on the trekking routes to educate the tourists and travellers about the importance of these species and their role in conserving faunal and floral biodiversity. We should make sure that tourists go back with not just the sightseeing but also the rich knowledge of ecological and cultural traditions. For instance, the management of kuhls is conducted through community cooperation and this should be highlighted. Similarly, the tensions felt on account of the siting of power projects and the need and policy for setting up small-scale distributed power projects can be conveyed as a sign of responsive administration. The changing climatic patterns and consequent melting of glaciers must be highlighted so that tourists carry the real worries of the mountain people to the plains and persuade people there to change their lifestyle. Glaciers are not melting only because of local factors. Although to some extent communities do feel that increased traffic after the opening of the tunnel has raised pollution slightly more, but it is also true that it has raised employment and income by making access to market and health facilities easier.
4. Entrepreneurship
   a. Most hotels do not promote local cuisine as most food entrepreneurs have assumed that people come to Lahaul to eat their conventional food of the plains’ and cities. There is a need for traditional food and nutritional festivals as they have been organised by the Honey Bee Network for decades in collaboration with local mandals in different cities to celebrate local cuisine and culture.
   b) we shared examples of new business models also with local entrepreneurs and community representatives. A local start-up, Little Himalayan Company supported by GIAN had put the names of the community members whose knowledge helped in making a pain relieving oil, on the label of the bottle. Such recognition gives voice, visibility and velocity per HBN philosophy to the local knowledge.
   c) Start-up culture, co-working space (as recently started in Purnia), dedicated funds for investments in local enterprises, and training for branding and supply chain management need to be encouraged and organised. It was ironic to see that drinking water often packed in plains was being sold rather than the water from different local springs.
   The conventional ways of managing economic, ecological, and cultural enterprises need a new outlook in the face of emerging opportunities and changing consumer preferences. We will be happy to host some of the groups at Sattvik festival organised by HBN and also at certain functions organised by IIM students. We were very impressed by the efforts the district administration and Zila Parishad are making to improve the conditions of the economic and social infrastructure. We brought some content for the schools on pen drives and our students will add the content on commerce which we hadn’t brought.
   We are keen to invite you to visit us sometime so that we can form a relationship based on mutual learning and sharing. The medicinal plant board office led by Dr. Arun Chandan has promised support for medicinal plant gardens in the schools and villages to supplement the efforts of the forest department and local administration. We are very grateful for the enormously kind hospitality and love and affection of particularly mahila mandals and schools. It is a tribute to your leadership. We hope you will bring about many more changes and make Lahaul the first district to have a village knowledge bank/register in every village and school to demonstrate their concern regarding the fast-eroding knowledge of the community elders. We wish you all the success and assure you of our support.